Why Are Some U.S. Politicians Trying to Remove an Iranian Cult From the Terror List? (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult)

Why Are Some U.S. Politicians Trying to Remove an Iranian Cult From the Terror List?

(Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult)

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... But the problem with Washington's new MEK fantasy is that -- like its fascination with the Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi who nine years ago convinced American leaders that their troops would be greeted by Iraqis with "sweets and flowers" -- it is failing to notice the obvious: Just as the CIA used to joke that Chalabi was far more influential along the Potomac than he was along the Tigris, so are the new crowd of MEK converts ignoring the fact that the MEK is detested not only by Iran's regime, but also by the very opposition movement that has challenged the regime in the streets ...

The two leading figures of Iran's opposition Green Movement - presidential candidates Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi are under arrest as the regime cracks down on any effort to emulate the Arab world's democracy rebellions. But Iran's opposition may be in store for another blow - this time, at the hands of those in Washington who profess to support their cause.

A newly fashionable foolishness in Washington is public advocacy by leading establishment figures on behalf of Iran's Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), which has since 1997 been on the State Department's list of foreign terror organizations. It may be a radical group founded from a mix of Marxist and Islamist ideas, which the State Department says killed Americans working in Iran in the 1970s and which served as an adjunct to Saddam Hussein -- and it may function as a cult, according to the RAND Corporation, with many members forced to remain in the organization against their will -- but the campaign to take it off the State Department's "terrorist" list unites longtime neocon ideologues, former U.S. military and security officials, Republican presidential hopefuls and now a growing number of senior Democratic foreign policy mavens.

And it appears to be well-funded, with a number of the speakers at the campaign's keynote events admitting to having been paid to show up, most recent among them, former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton, a respected foreign policy grey-beard.

The MEK was created in the mid-1960s to fight the Shah of Iran. Although it participated in the revolution of 1978/9, it broke with the Islamists and went into armed opposition as they took over, launching a number of terror attacks inside Iran. It was welcomed into Iraq by Saddam Hussein as a proxy force against his enemies in Tehran, establishing its main military base at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq. The MEK fought alongside Iraqi forces against Iran in the brutal war that raged from 1980-1988, a fact that has forever damned it in the eyes of millions of Iranians -- even those who are willing to challenge the current regime.

When the U.S. occupied Iraq in 2003, the fate of the MEK became an American problem. While the Bush Administration, in line with the terrorist designation and commitments to Iran, undertook to close the camp, it hedged on the issue as more hawkish elements in and around the Administration lobbied furiously for the MEK to be supported as a proxy force to wage war against Iran -- you know, just like Saddam had done. The MEK claims to have renounced violence in 2003, and has been lobbying to have its "terrorist" status changed in the West -- an effort that succeeded in Europe in 2009 when it was removed from the EU equivalent of the State Department's list. Camp Ashraf remains open, however, although the Iraqi government has demanded its closure -- although as U.S. influence declines, an Iran-friendly Iraqi government could move against it.

That's one of the concerns animating the sudden show of sympathy for the group in Washington. Another is frustration at the failure of U.S. efforts thus far to compel Iran to relinquish its nuclear program - and a desire to seek regime change on the cheap. And then there's also clearly a smart lobbying effort on behalf of the MEK, whose membership is believed to number between 5,000 and 10,000, and its political wing, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance.

At a recent event, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who was President Clinton's U.N. Ambassador at the time the MEK was added to the "terrorist" list, said Iranians' "thirst for freedom and democracy" required that it be taken off the list. Former Joint Chiefs chairman General Hugh Shelton said that the MEK was "the largest organized resistance to Iran's current regime" and urged that it be immediately removed from the list. "MEK is obviously the way that Iran needs to go," he added.

Speaking at an event in Paris last December along with former Bush cabinet member Tom Ridge and GOP presidential hopeful Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Homeland Security czar Michael Mukasey called the MEK "a moderate, secular and democratic political organization as well as the largest and most organized opposition group in Iran." And last month, former New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli chaired a panel urging the Obama Administration to embrace the MEK, that included former CENTCOM chief Anthony Zinni, former Obama National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, and President Bush's former U.N. ambassador, the arch-hawk John Bolton. Even more bizarre was Torricelli's "by any means necessary" logic when he asked, last month, "Is it even possible to oppose a terrorist state, and be a terrorist yourself?"

The answer, for grownups, is yes, it is quite possible. Terrorism is not simply an epithet applied to those we don't like; if the term is to have any meaning at all it has to have an objective definition -- and typically, in international forums, that definition involves the systematic directing of violence against non-combatants in pursuit of political goals. And by that measure, the MEK has engaged in acts of terrorism -- although there's certainly a case to be made that throughout history, groups that have engaged in terrorism have later become part of the political process in their countries.

But the problem with Washington's new MEK fantasy is that -- like its fascination with the Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi who nine years ago convinced American leaders that their troops would be greeted by Iraqis with "sweets and flowers" -- it is failing to notice the obvious: Just as the CIA used to joke that Chalabi was far more influential along the Potomac than he was along the Tigris, so are the new crowd of MEK converts ignoring the fact that the MEK is detested not only by Iran's regime, but also by the very opposition movement that has challenged the regime in the streets.

When the Green Movement took to the streets took to challenge the regime in the wake of Iran's contested 2009 presidential election, the regime sought to portray the MEK as behind the movement, in order to discredit it in the eyes of ordinary Iranians.

Former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi was having none of it, branding the MEK a "hypocritical and dead organization". Fellow Green Movement leader Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Mir Hussein Moussavi, was even more forthright in an interview with a Farsi news outlet last year: "This government has tried to revive the MEK by associating it with the Green Movement, which again is a very funny notion because the Green Movement is a people's movement that is alive and dynamic and holds a very red wall between itself and the MEK."

Tehran-based journalist Jason Rezaian writes that the hostility is based on the MEK having fought for Saddam Hussein in a war that left hundreds of thousand of Iranians dead or maimed. It's regarded in the same way that Americans view John Walker Lindh. "There are still thousands, perhaps millions, of Iranians completely willing to speak openly about their attitudes on the 2009 election," Rezaian writes, "but good luck finding a single person who is pro-MEK."

"Sitting here in Tehran," he continues, "the mere thought of the MEK becoming a legitimate contributor to the policy dialogue on Iran is laughable, except to those of us who would actually like to see an end to the more than three decades of animosity between the U.S. and Iran, and hope for a productive future relationship through real diplomacy. To us -- and we are much stronger in number than the MEK could ever hope to be -- the idea is insane, heartbreaking and reprehensible."

That view is echoed by Michael Rubin in Commentary magazine, proving that not all neocons share the enthusiasm of some for the MEK. "There is no doubt that the [MEK] has targeted Americans, and no amount of slick public relations should erase that. During my time in Iran, it was clear that while Iranians respect the United States and have little good to say about their own government, they all detest the [MEK]... One thing is certain: embracing the [MEK] is the surest way to make anti-American the 65 million Iranians who dislike their government and dislike theocracy."

Rubin is also skeptical of the roots of the current campaign to legitimize the MEK: "If American officials call for the delisting of the MKO, that is their right. For an honest debate on the issues, however, they should acknowledge the honorarium or consulting fees they receive from the group."

Given President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's own propaganda efforts to link Iran's domestic opposition to the MEK, though, it's hard to imagine he'd have any problem with Washington embracing the group

... Sadly, no one could have been in any doubt, including – perhaps especially - the MEK’s backers, that people would disappear from the streets once terrorists backed by foreign powers were thrown into the pot. And it is not only in Iran but in demonstrations held in London, Paris, Brussels and Washington that this phenomenon shows itself. The destruction of Iran’s internal opposition, the so-called Green Movement’ simply cannot be all blamed on the IRI. It should be clear that those who greedily and imprudently contribute the fatal ingredients to the mix are more than any culpable of poisoning the Ash ...

Today, March 2, Iran’s Majles issued its report on the 14 February demonstrations. Its reading had been delayed in order to assess the outcome of yesterday’s demonstration which had been called by the opposition.

The result was disappointing for the organisers. Not many people turned out. And this poor turnout has now unfortunately given a clear indication that after one year during which the IRI has manoeuvred to separate Mousavi and Karoubi from their support base among people inside Iran, the time has now come to deal with them. The report from Majles makes it clear what the next steps will be.

But the poor turnout cannot be attributed to a lack of will on the part of the opposition as many, many ordinary Iranians are known still to strongly oppose their government. Neither can the poor turnout be laid exclusively at the door of the IRI which, contrary to predictions, did not strike with disproportionate force; unpleasant as the use of tear gas and beatings are for demonstrators anywhere in the world.

Instead it is probable that Iran’s internal opposition is being slowly murdered with a dish of poisoned Ash prepared with a fatal mix of ingredients; the pot provided by the hardliners in Iran and the fire provided by Israel, the chickpeas and beans provided by the neoconservatives, the herbs provided by American foreign policy and the salt and pepper of the dish was the addition over the last few months by warmongers and regime change pundits who liberally sprinkled ‘support for terrorism’ into the dish. This added seasoning was of course the overt American and Israeli support for the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq working against the interests of the Iranian people.

The Iranian government chefs have proved themselves professional enough to use the ingredients to poison the soup. It’s not that people didn’t want to come out, and not that the regime had to use force; people didn’t come to the streets because they didn’t want to be associated with violent activists linked to the MEK.

Sadly, no one could have been in any doubt, including – perhaps especially - the MEK’s backers, that people would disappear from the streets once terrorists backed by foreign powers were thrown into the pot. And it is not only in Iran but in demonstrations held in London, Paris, Brussels and Washington that this phenomenon shows itself. The destruction of Iran’s internal opposition, the so-called Green Movement’ simply cannot be all blamed on the IRI. It should be clear that those who greedily and imprudently contribute the fatal ingredients to the mix are more than any culpable of poisoning the Ash.

... Fourth Geneva Convention Protected Persons’ status was wrongfully applied in 2004 by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He gave ‘Pentagon protection’ to his terrorists in Iraq while the UN and ICRC expressed their concern over the issue and argued (fruitlessly) that the MEK is a paramilitary group, not a civilian population and this designation had no legal basis. But in any case the status would not apply after 2006, a year after the first elections in Iraq – a fact repeatedly corroborated by British, European and American officials. A document produced by the Library of the UK’s House ...

There are a number of basic facts which even the sophisticated and well-financed MEK propaganda machine cannot make untrue. It is worth repeating them.

The number of MEK members has never risen beyond 6,000 to 7,000. Even in 1988 at the height of their powers the group could only muster 5500 to launch its abortive operation to topple the regime, the infamous Eternal Light operation. American soldiers corralled 3800 members inside Camp Ashraf in 2003. In the rest of the world figures probably do not exceed an additional one to two thousand including the MEK’s non Iranian supporters and backers.

Fourth Geneva Convention Protected Persons’ status was wrongfully applied in 2004 by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He gave ‘Pentagon protection’ to his terrorists in Iraq while the UN and ICRC expressed their concern over the issue and argued (fruitlessly) that the MEK is a paramilitary group, not a civilian population and this designation had no legal basis. But in any case the status would not apply after 2006, a year after the first elections in Iraq – a fact repeatedly corroborated by British, European and American officials. A document produced by the Library of the UK’s House of Commons states: “In the case of occupied territory, the Convention continues to apply for a year after the general close of military operations, and partially thereafter if the occupying power continues to exercise the functions of government. The occupation of Iraq formally ended on 30 June 2004.”

The MEK members in Camp Ashraf do not have any legal right to be in Iraq. No MEK member has refugee status in Iraq. Leader Massoud Rajavi ensured they all entered the country illegally in order to be able to use this against them if they defected (he sent scores to Abu Ghraib in this way). After 2003, the UNHCR in Iraq would not grant refugee status to MEK members because it is a paramilitary group and the GOI has refused to grant refugee status to members of what is known throughout Iraq as a terrorist organisation which has killed some 25,000 Iraqi civilians. In Written Answers in the House of Lords on 20 April 2009, Lord Malloch-Brown (then Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office) told parliament, “The UN High Commission for Refugees has previously determined that Camp Ashraf residents do not qualify as refugees.”

The Government of Iraq has every reason, regardless of Iranian or American influence either way, to wish to expel the MEK from the country. The MEK was responsible for killing 25,000 Iraqi civilians. It is currently the only part of Saddam Hussein’s repressive apparatus which remains intact and active. This is due to the failure of the American military to dismantle the camp and remove the inhabitants. (RAND Report, August 2009) Iraq’s Foreign Minister Zebari a few weeks ago again accused the MEK of trying to maintain a state within a state and said that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization is like many other armed terrorist organizations," adding that "the government is determined to impose its sovereignty and not allow any party to impose its policy orientations."

The Iraqi Judiciary would like to prosecute leading members of the MEK for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Iraqis in Iraq. They have been frustrated by the interference of the MEK’s backers in Washington, London and Brussels.

Iraqi soldiers are stationed at Camp Ashraf to provide protection, a role imposed on them by the Americans who failed to deal with the MEK for six years. In the six years that American soldiers protected the terrorist group and its base, fourteen American soldiers were killed during escort missions for MEK shopping in Baghdad. (RAND Report August 2009.)

There is plenty of evidence that the MEK commit serious human rights abuses against their own members inside Camp Ashraf, but to date no independent investigation has taken place into these allegations.

The Iranians outside Camp Ashraf are the families of members trapped inside. The MEK do not allow the members to have contact with them. The families have been recently attacked by MEK special forces from inside the camp which resulted in the hospitalisation of a couple of old people. The American soldiers have repeatedly come to support the MEK in the harassment of the families who have now entered their 13th month of their picket, demanding a simple visit to make sure their loved ones are there of their own free will. So far, no one has established that the people inside Camp Ashraf are there of their own free will.

... Massoud Rajavi and the heads of his cult have a huge file in the Iraqi judiciary which is truly bigger than the one of Saddam Hussein and his aides. But the trial of the leaders of the cult has had the same fate as Maryam Rajavi’s file in Paris – she was arrested and charged with attempting terrorist activities against defectors and fraud and money laundry more than seven and a half years ago and she is still waiting trial – since for the time being she has been hired by the Americans and the Israelis ...

The Iraqi newspaper “assabah” stated in its 23rd of January issue that fresh documents have been found which leave no doubt that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) took part in suppressing the Iraqi people and has supported terrorist acts inside the country.

The article refers to the cult’s terrorist acts against the people of Iran, crimes against the people of Iraq even after Saddam Hussein was toppled, and confining and torturing and even murdering its discontented members inside Ashraf military garrison.

The accounts referred to in this article in interviews by the governor of the city of Khalis as well as the chief of police of Diyala province had a great impact in the Iraqi media and media circles. These statements were quoted by a number of Iraq media which also covered the interview.

It is obvious that the Iraqi judiciary system and the government and politicians of Iraq as well as the people of this country seek Rajavi’s prosecution and trial and seek expulsion of the members of his cult from Iraq. Nowhere in the world has a foreign terrorist group been granted by the Americans so much privilege inside a host country that it could be considered a government within a government. This is of course the legacy left by Saddam Hussein for the people of Iraq, and the American forces still impose it on them supposedly for their own political interests.

Massoud Rajavi and the heads of his cult have a huge file in the Iraqi judiciary which is truly bigger than the one of Saddam Hussein and his aides. But the trial of the leaders of the cult has had the same fate as Maryam Rajavi’s file in Paris – she was arrested and charged with attempting terrorist activities against defectors and fraud and money laundry more than seven and a half years ago and she is still waiting trial – since for the time being she has been hired by the Americans and the Israelis.

The former members of the Rajavi cult and the families, as well as the families of the victims of terror and violence in Iraq and in Iran, have many claims filed against the cult and its leaders in the Iraqi courts. Each of these complaints which contain firm evidential documents is enough to put any person on trial. But the story for Rajavi, who has established one of the most destructive and notorious cults of personality and mind manipulation in history, is different since some imaginary political interests are at stake.

The Sahar Family Foundation has always welcomed the trial of Massoud Rajavi for his deeds, particularly against the members and the families. Such a trial should definitely take place with the presence of international observers according to all internationally acknowledged rules and regulations while accepting the recognized rights of the defendant. Our demand is not taking revenge and we do not even seek ordinary justice. We believe that the world must be aware of the destruction brought about by cults to society and the security of society. No one should any longer be trapped by a brainwashing system. No longer should the idealistic youth who desire to struggle for freedom and justice be allowed to be deceived into a mind manipulation organization.

Letter of the Committee Supporting the Picketing Families to UK parliamentarians

Iraqis ask British MPs to take Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) to London

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... Honorable MPs, We have to inform you that the presence of this organization in our territory is highly undesirable since this organization has committed grave atrocities against the Iraqi people. After this latest wicked act by the MKO, the civil organizations and tribe leaders demanded that the Iraqi government, parliament and also the Iraqi Criminal Court should prosecute the leaders of the organization for the crimes they committed against the Iraqi people in the past. There are several documents showing that members of the MKO have been involved in terrorist activities inside Iraq. As a support committee we have handed over these documents to international organizations and the UN and we hereby inform world public opinion of the secrets behind the presence of this organization in our country. The question is, ‘would the countries which back this organization wish to allow them to stay in their own country as refugees’? ...

The Iraqi Committee supporting the Iranian families picketing outside Camp Ashraf wrote a letter to the UK parliamentarians who have apparently backed the MKO (Rajavi cult) to stay in Iraq without knowing the truth.

A copy of the letter - which follows below - has been sent to the Iraqi government and international bodies.

Baghdad January 30, 2011

We as a support committee, in respect of our humanitarian duty, asked the MKO to allow the picketing Iranian families to visit their loved ones in Camp New Iraq (aka Camp Ashraf). This request has been made as a humanitarian plea.

These families, who are mostly elderly people, have been staying in poor conditions for more than ten months. The MKO’s refusal to allow these visits is against any international values and principals and also against the UN charter of human rights. No religion accepts this either.

When some civil organizations and tribe leaders gathered outside Camp Ashraf to demonstrate, members of the cult threw stones at the participants and consequently some were injured. Further, the cult leaders accused them of being mercenaries.

Witnessing such an immoral act, which goes against every human value, convinced us to be more persistent in supporting the just and rightful demand of the families, and to arrange for more demonstrations.

Honorable MPs,

We have to inform you that the presence of this organization in our territory is highly undesirable since this organization has committed grave atrocities against the Iraqi people.

After this latest wicked act by the MKO, the civil organizations and tribe leaders demanded that the Iraqi government, parliament and also the Iraqi Criminal Court should prosecute the leaders of the organization for the crimes they committed against the Iraqi people in the past.

There are several documents showing that members of the MKO have been involved in terrorist activities inside Iraq. As a support committee we have handed over these documents to international organizations and the UN and we hereby inform world public opinion of the secrets behind the presence of this organization in our country.

The question is, ‘would the countries which back this organization wish to allow them to stay in their own country as refugees’?

The answer would be that every country as a sovereign state has its own rules and regulations. So, yes, we also have rules and regulations which do not allow them to stay in our country. Anyone willing to back them should welcome them in their own country.

We seek peace and we will not tolerate a terrorist organization in our beloved country.

On behalf of the Iraqi committee to support the Iranian families picketing outside Camp Ashraf Sami Azzeidi Baghdad, 30 January 2011

... saying that "the Iraqi Constitution does not allow the existence of any armed organization on our land to exercise acts against another country. Zebari said that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization is like many other armed terrorist organizations," adding that "the government is determined to impose its sovereignty and not allow any party to impose its policy orientations." The civil society organizations from different provinces of Iraq, had organized a demonstration on 11 December last, in front of Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3400 members of the PMOI in Diyala, demanding the Iraqi government to develop mechanisms to remove members of the organization from Iraq ...

The Foreign Minister of Iraq said Wednesday that the Iraqi constitution does not allow the existence of any "terrorist" organization on Iraqi territory, including the People's Mojahedin Organization, stressing that the Iraqi government is determined to impose its sovereignty in the country and no other policies will be allowed to be imposed.

At a press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, attended by "Alsumaria News", Hoshyar Zebari said, "The issue of MEK was discussed by the Prime Minister more than once, and we suffered more than any other party from the evils of armed organizations on our territory," saying that "the Iraqi Constitution does not allow the existence of any armed organization on our land to exercise acts against another country."

Zebari said that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization is like many other armed terrorist organizations," adding that "the government is determined to impose its sovereignty and not allow any party to impose its policy orientations."

The civil society organizations from different provinces of Iraq, had organized a demonstration on 11 December last, in front of Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3400 members of the PMOI in Diyala, demanding the Iraqi government to develop mechanisms to remove members of the organization from Iraq.

The Iraqi forces composed of nearly a thousand members from the army and police force moved into Camp Ashraf earlier this year, but elements of the PMOI used batons and knives to prevent security officers from discharging their functions, which led to the outbreak of fighting and injuring about two hundred and sixty people from both sides and the arrest of fifty members of the organization…

... Zionist-backed Mojahedin-e Khalq revert to type. The families of MEK cult members held hostage in Camp Ashraf are subjected to violent attacks by Massoud Rajavi’s Special Guard. The cult enclave is surrounded by the families of the people inside who are asking to have contact with their loved ones. The worst fear of Rajavi is for his cult members to have contact with the outside world. Rajavi has introduced an extra security system to try to force them back. Undaunted the families continue to approach the fence and engage with the MEK’s security force ...

Zionist-backed Mojahedin-e Khalq revert to type. The families of MEK cult members held hostage in Camp Ashraf are subjected to violent attacks by Massoud Rajavi’s Special Guard. The cult enclave is surrounded by the families of the people inside who are asking to have contact with their loved ones. The worst fear of Rajavi is for his cult members to have contact with the outside world.

Over the past few months the families have begun approaching the fence all around the camp perimeter trying to engage with the members inside and talk with them.

Now, in order to prevent them from contacting the ordinary members, Rajavi has introduced an extra security system to try to force them back. Undaunted the families continue to approach the fence and engage with the MEK’s security force.

The systematic nature of the security patrol is clear. The MEK have introduced extra lookout posts around the perimeter mounted on trucks. There are also mobile patrols which travel the perimeter road watching for the families. When the patrols discover the families approaching, the MEK security forces are mobilised. These forces are organised. They do not engage with the families but are immediately hostile. They quickly escalate the encounter from aggressively shouting at the families to go away and swearing at them, to throwing stones and using catapults to launch missiles (some of them made of metal scraps). This is not a spontaneous reaction but is a deliberate action to prevent the families getting close to the perimeter.

It is notable that the perimeter fence has been added to with the extension facing inward and the barbed wire all on the inside. This is clearly designed to keep people in rather than prevent anyone outside from entering the camp. It should be plain from this that Camp Ashraf has become a prison for the ordinary members.

... Families of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) members trapped inside the camp by cult leaders have spent ten months trying to get access to their relatives. Through loud speakers they have appealed to the camp leaders and sent messages of hope and love for their relatives. In response, the MEK have used sophisticated US made parasite equipment to deflect the messages and create an impossible atmosphere for anyone outside the camp. The MEK were eventually forced to remove the illegal equipment when they realised that reporters were present at the camp ...

Families of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) members trapped inside the camp by cult leaders have spent ten months trying to get access to their relatives. Through loud speakers they have appealed to the camp leaders and sent messages of hope and love for their relatives.

In response, the MEK have used sophisticated US made parasite equipment to deflect the messages and create an impossible atmosphere for anyone outside the camp. The MEK were eventually forced to remove the illegal equipment when they realised that reporters were present at the camp.

... Mohammad Karimi has been made to sit before a camera without his military uniform, he is seated somewhere like a gymnasium inside the garrison. His speech is marked by MKO-speak and cult jargon as he swears at and insults his own sister and the Prime Minister of Iraq. Karimi claims that he is at war with Iran and that Iran’s leader (Ayatollah Khamenei) and the Prime Minister of Iraq (Nouri Al Maliki) have been defeated simply by him sitting inside the camp and refusing to see his sister ...

For over four months the families of Rajavi’s hostages in Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) have been picketing outside the gates of the camp demanding the right to meet with their relatives

During these four months they have asked for help from all the major international agencies concerned with the camp; UNAMI, ICRC, UNHCR, etc, including the American Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill. So far, despite their clear humanitarian case, no help has been forthcoming.

Now in a bid to force the families to give up and leave without meeting their loved ones, Massoud Rajavi has devised a plan to single out each of the hostages whose relatives have come to find them and one by one sit them in front of a camera to swear at and abuse their own families as well as the Iraqi government. Sadly, the hostages inside the camp have spent over two decades incommunicado and have had no contact with the outside world through media, telephone or the internet, and have certainly had no contact with their families in all that time.

Following is one of the forced video sessions broadcast by the Washington-backed terrorist cult leaders in which Mohammad Karimi has been made to sit before a camera without his military uniform, he is seated somewhere like a gymnasium inside the garrison. His speech is marked by MKO-speak and cult jargon as he swears at and insults his own sister and the Prime Minister of Iraq. Karimi claims that he is at war with Iran and that Iran’s leader (Ayatollah Khamenei) and the Prime Minister of Iraq (Nouri Al Maliki) have been defeated simply by him sitting inside the camp and refusing to see his sister.

We should not forget that these people have been used and exploited by Rajavi and Saddam for over two decades. When Rajavi and his wife (co-leader of the cult) ran away just before the arrest of Saddam, they abandoned these people to be used as hostages and bargaining chips. Now over seven years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, these people are still kept incommunicado and are imprisoned in the camp by the leaders of the cult with the backing of the USG and its agencies in Iraq.

Any right minded person can clearly see in his eyes the pain of swearing at his own sister.

Any right minded person can understand that if this was not a forced video confession, he could have been allowed to walk to the gates of the garrison without a prison guard and tell his sister to go home and that he is happy to stay there.

Any right minded person can see that the problem for the camp and Rajavi as its leader is not whether they want to engage in political activities or not (in that case the first step would have been to escape self-imprisonment in the deserts of Iraq), but their fear of the families and human rights activist trying to make contact.

Rajavi must answer to the outside world why no marriage is allowed among members, why no children have been born to any members for twenty years, why there are not even newspapers, or radio, no TV, no telephone or email to contact the outside world, etc. Why do those who have managed to escape the camp all report severe human rights violations against the people stuck inside without any recourse to help or contact?

The backers of Rajavi and other remains of Saddam’s era (especially, the infamous Ros-Lehtinan in the US House of Congress, Struan Stevenson in the European Parliament and Robin Corbett in the British House of Lords) should hang their heads in shame for supporting and endorsing such severe abuse of human rights of hostages in front of the eyes of their families.

Following is the broadcast forced video of one of the victim hostages, Mohammad Karimi tortured to sit in front of a camera and play as instructed, including swearing at his own sister whose only 'crime' is that she has been sitting outside the camp for the past four months hoping to see him.

... The Mojahedin claim that the advanced nature of her illness is as a result of the Iraqi Government placing limits on them. Even if you produce evidence and documents to support this claim, your history shows another story... When, in the time of Saddam, they gave the body of Hayedeh Hemmati to her family in Switzerland, the Swiss doctors emphasised that if Hayedeh had been brought for medical help a year sooner, she would have survived. But two months before the death of Hayedeh, in the year 2000, when the Ideological leader (Massoud Rajavi) was certain that she would not survive, he allowed her to be transferred to Switzerland where her family lived ...

Last week a video was broadcast by the Mojahedin Khalq on their website showing Marzieh Hemmati. In this video Marzieh is stressing that she has freedom of choice – whilst in her hospital bed fighting a losing battle with death!

Marzieh Hemmati is the last surviving child of the Hemmati family in Iraq. Two other members of this family have been murdered by the ruling regime in Iran, and two others have been killed by the Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) ideological leader in Iraq. Now that Marzieh is fighting death in Camp Ashraf, the Mojahedin Khalq leaders are trying to invent documents in favour of their ideological leader as they see that Marzieh is close to death.

A week before the broadcast of this video in Mojahedin Khalq outlets, Marzieh Hemmati made some contact with her family from Iraq. The contacts revealed that she was in a hospital in Baghdad and would be undergoing major surgery on a tumour in her stomach.

The phone call made by Marzieh Hemmati from one of the best hospitals of Baghdad with the best doctors and facilities (as was claimed over the phone and has been recorded) prompted the family to enquire into the case. How could it be that at exactly the same time that the Mojahedin were claiming that the Iraqi forces were refusing to allow their sick and needy to be transferred to hospital (and they were carrying out demonstrations in western countries on that issue), Marzieh has been admitted to the best hospital in Iraq? Over the phone Marzieh claimed that every possible facility was available to her and she would undergo surgery on November 14, 2010.

As her family, several things came to our minds:

- There is some kind of plot. The Mojahedin Khalq does not usually have humanitarian feelings but they do play with people’s feelings. We should be cautious.

- In the latest contacts a few months before this, Marzieh called all her family members “members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards” [Translator: activation of cult phobias in the MKO is standard when members contact their families]. So what has happened now that she is been asked to call the same people in a friendly way?

- one of the family members who spoke to Marzieh believes that the kind of talking we witnessed was very much as though saying her goodbyes and was the last contact she was making. It seems her sickness is very grave and she may not survive the surgery or may die a short time after the surgery. The MKO may have asked her to call so that after her death the family of Hemmati would at least stay passive or they may even be brought to participate in yet another of the MKO’s disgusting shows that they perform on their satellite TV and websites!

What is being said in this video is a confirmation of what she said over the phone except that in the video it is being said in the cult jargon which the Mojahedin usually use. MKO leader (Massoud Rajavi) as usual is acting too clever for his own good. We, the family, of course have nothing to do with him. But one should not forget that this kind of misuse of the situation of a sick person on her death bed and the propaganda usage of the feelings between family members - it is not going to work any more. Marzieh should of course be free to choose what she wants, but no reactionary force should be free to misuse and play with the feelings of others.

We seriously recommend to the ideological leader (Massoud Rajavi) that before trying to begin any new games, he should have a glance at his past deeds and his messy history. For us the results of this ideological leader and his deeds are crystal clear. It is also clear for us that Marzieh Hemmati is seriously ill and her death is unavoidable now!

The Mojahedin claim that the advanced nature of her illness is as a result of the Iraqi Government placing limits on them. Even if you produce evidence and documents to support this claim, your history shows another story.

The Ideological leader was playing God in the time of the rule of Saddam Hussein. He would do whatever he wanted with his opponents. According to his own admission, the influence they had in Saddam’s regime would shock the Iraqis themselves.

When, in the time of Saddam, they gave the body of Hayedeh Hemmati to her family in Switzerland, the Swiss doctors emphasised that if Hayedeh had been brought for medical help a year sooner, she would have survived. But two months before the death of Hayedeh, in the year 2000, when the Ideological leader (Massoud Rajavi) was certain that she would not survive, he allowed her to be transferred to Switzerland where her family lived.

Hayedeh Hemmati died because the Mojahedin Khalq refused her access to medical help. You deliberately sent Majid Hemmati over a minefield in total darkness so that you would meet your number targets while sitting in Camp Ashraf. And did your organisation meet its target?

Nahid Hemmati (Asefeh) the older sister of Marzieh Hemmati: Mrs. Rajavi! Can you remember in the year 2000 when I wrote to you personally and said that the doctors are stressing that after the death of Hayedeh, her sister Marzieh should undergo medical checks, especially on her lungs? Didn’t I attach the medical report to you through Mahvash Sepehri (one of Rajavi’s lieutenants)? And can you remember that no-one, including yourself, ever answered my requests?

In 2003, I came to Paris. You, as usual, made some silly gestures as you do, and then Mahvash Sepehri told me: “you’d better go to Iraq if you want to bring Marzieh here”! And she was suggesting this at a time when the leaders of your disgusting organisation one after another were running away from Iraq!

Mrs. Rajavi! Your organisation has put the video of my sister on your sites. I have tried hard to make some contact with you and ask simple questions about my sister’s illness. But, as usual, you have refused to give any answer. You have not even accepted to listen to my questions. You hung up the phone on me.

You are pretending that you are doing these in a legal framework but it is now about two decades that the name of the Hemmati family has been misused by you. This is certainly something that can be followed legally and we see no other choice except doing so.

... Mr Mehdi Fathi, a hostage of the Washington backed Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) terrorist group died in Camp Ashraf (CIA protected MKO HQ) in Iraq one year after the Rajavi cult (Mojahedin Khalq) leaders refused to allow his return to France for medical treatment. According to the statements issued by the cult leaders, the deceased, Mehdi Fathi, had been suffering from cancer. He was admitted to Baquba hospital when it was too late for treatment. But the demand for his transfer to his home in France was denied by the leaders of Mojahedin Khalq (Who themselves live under protection of American and Israeli secret services in Paris) ...

Mr Mehdi Fathi, a hostage of the Washington backed Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) terrorist group died in Camp Ashraf (CIA protected MKO HQ) in Iraq one year after the Rajavi cult (Mojahedin Khalq) leaders refused to allow his return to France for medical treatment.

The leader of the Mojahedin Khalq is a fugitive. He has been in hiding since the fall of his last benefactor Saddam Hussein. But his third wife Maryam Azodanloo (Rajavi), based at the European HQ of the terrorist cult, today blamed the Government of Iraq and Iraq’s Prime Minister Noori Al Maliki, for the death of the hostage.

According to the statements issued by the cult leaders, the deceased, Mehdi Fathi, had been suffering from cancer. He was admitted to Baquba hospital when it was too late for treatment. But the demand for his transfer to his home in France was denied by the leaders of Mojahedin Khalq (Who themselves live under protection of American and Israeli secret services in Paris).

The news of the death of yet another hostage of the Washington-backed Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation coincides with a meeting tomorrow morning of Iraqi tribe leaders, Iraqi dignitaries and officials as well as media representatives and reporters at the gates of Camp Ashraf. The meeting includes the families hostages have picketed outside the camp for the last 10 months demanding the simple right to visit their loved ones.

... In an interview with “Alsumaria News” the source said that “a medical team stationed inside the Camp Ashraf, 55 km north of Baquba received a communication from the camp about a case of suicide of one of the members of Mojahedin Khalq. The case is under investigation to verify whether the man has committed suicide by hanging himself inside his room”. The source also said that “another investigation is underway to determine the main reason that has prompted someone in the Iranian opposition to commit suicide in this way”. Camp Ashraf or what is known now as “Camp New Iraq” houses more than 3000 Iranian Mojahedin Khalq dissidents ...

An official medical source in Diyala province said that a member of the Iranian group, Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) has committed suicide on Tuesday evening by hanging himself inside his room in Camp Ashraf, north of Baquba. He also added that the claim of suicide (by the leaders of the camp) is being investigated and the real cause of death will be announced soon.

In an interview with “Alsumaria News” the source said that “a medical team stationed inside the Camp Ashraf, 55 km north of Baquba received a communication from the camp about a case of suicide of one of the members of Mojahedin Khalq. The case is under investigation to verify whether the man has committed suicide by hanging himself inside his room”.

The source also said that “another investigation is underway to determine the main reason that has prompted someone in the Iranian opposition to commit suicide in this way”.

The Iraqi forces took control of the camp and have provided protection to the camp since 2009. During this time there have also been several clashes between Iraqi forces and members of Mojahedin Khalq which has ended with the occurrence of casualties on both sides.

Camp Ashraf or what is known now as “Camp New Iraq” houses more than 3000 Iranian Mojahedin Khalq dissidents (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult). The organization moved its HQ to this place nearly 3 decades ago

Wondering at those Americans who stand under the flag of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) only to LOBBY for the murderers of their servicemen

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... Massoud Rajavi was on the stage and while he had his hands on his waist he began a war cry against the USA, and in his admiration for Osama Ben Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, he said, ”This was fanatical Islam which trembled and shacked the basis of US Imperialism and they destroyed the twin towers which were the symbol of their power, and successfully reduced it to rubble through their successful mission”. Then he (Massoud Rajavi) with a smile on his face continued his war cry and said, ”What will happen to the USA if revolutionary Islam with our Ideology and Maryam’s leadership comes to power, then this paper tiger (the USA) will be destroyed as a whole.” ...

This documentary takes us beneath the surface of acts of terror against Iran and shows how Iranians have been targeted by various terrorist groups, some of which enjoying the support of human right organizations.

... The group’s hatred of the Islamic Republic led it to ally with Saddam Hussein, and it fought on the Iraqi side of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Following the Gulf War, “the group reportedly assisted in the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shia and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime; press reports cite MEK leader Maryam Rajavi encouraging MEK members to ‘take the Kurds under your tanks,’” according to the State Department. The group’s alliance with Saddam made it widely despised among the Iranian community at large, as it remains to this day ...

The Washington Post reports that four prominent Republicans — former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani, former Bush administration homeland security adviser Fran Townsend, former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey — told “a forum of cheering Iranian exiles” in Paris “that President Obama’s policy toward Iran amounts to futile appeasement that will never persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear projects.”

The four “demanded that Obama instead take the controversial Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) opposition group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran”:

“Appeasement of dictators leads to war, destruction and the loss of human lives,” Giuliani declared. “For your organization to be described as a terrorist organization is just really a disgrace.”

The four GOP figures appeared at a rally organized by the French Committee for a Democratic Iran, a pressure group formed to support MEK.

It should be obvious that describing Obama’s Iran policy — which includes a new set of both multilateral and unilateral sanctions — as “appeasement” indicates either a misunderstanding of the policy, or a misunderstanding of what constitutes “appeasement.” (Though, to be fair, conservatives tend to use “appeasement” loosely as a general term for “foreign policy I don’t like.”)

As for the MEK, after the GOP’s victory in November I predicted that we’d be seeing more efforts by pro-war conservatives to set the group up as an Iranian version of Ahmad Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress. Very much like the INC, the MEK has no genuine base of support in their own country — its real base is found among American neoconservatives.

Founded as a militant group with an ideology combining aspects of Islam and Marxism, the group is frequently described today as “cult-like,” built around a personality cult centered on leader Maryam Rajavi. [...]

The group’s hatred of the Islamic Republic led it to ally with Saddam Hussein, and it fought on the Iraqi side of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Following the Gulf War, “the group reportedly assisted in the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shia and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime; press reports cite MEK leader Maryam Rajavi encouraging MEK members to ‘take the Kurds under your tanks,’” according to the State Department. The group’s alliance with Saddam made it widely despised among the Iranian community at large, as it remains to this day

Luban notes that the MEK’s “militant anti-Iranian stance has made it a favorite of hawks in Washington”:

The MEK’s neoconservative supporters continue to push for it to be taken off the State Department terror list, which it has been on since 1997. One of the many ironies about the MEK is that, for all the groundless allegations that hawks made about Saddam Hussein’s connections to terrorist groups during the runup to the Iraq war, the terrorist group with perhaps the closest links to Saddam was one that the hawks themselves supported.

Human Rights Watch also released a report in 2005 detailing the group’s record of subjecting dissident members to torture and solitary confinement.

Leaving aside the spectacle of prominent conservatives going abroad to criticize the administration’s foreign policy on behalf of an Iranian exile group largely despised by Iranians, there’s actually a real question here of whether Giuliani, Townsend, Ridge, and Mukasey have violated U.S. law in regard to “material support” for terrorism.

In a case that weighed free speech against national security, the court voted 6 to 3 to uphold a federal law banning “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations. That ban holds, the court said, even when the offerings are not money or weapons but things such as “expert advice or assistance” or “training” intended to instruct in international law or appeals to the United Nations.